Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Retro Rewind: Why Final Fantasy V Does It Best

Retro Rewind: Why Final Fantasy V Does It Best

When Square Enix releases Final Fantasy XV this November, it will officially have been 10 entries since Final Fantasy V . Somehow, that seems more impressive to me than saying it’s been over 20 years since Final Fantasy V was released, but that might be because the nostalgia feels stronger when I measure by canon instead of time. Measuring by the latter fills me with existential dread.

Anyway, I think now is a time to discuss what I like most about Final Fantasy V : the job system.

Final Fantasy V was originally developed for the Super Famicom in 1992, but Westerners first played it on the PS1 in 1999. Square Enix withheld it from us because they believed it was too complex for Americans; therefore, it wouldn’t sell well. Instead we got Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest , which is basically Baby’s First Final Fantasy . It had the look of a SNES Final Fantasy minus a captivating story like IV’s or engaging mechanics.

Which is a shame, because I often wonder how different things might have been for V ‘s legacy had it been released before VI , which previously offered the most customization to date with its Esper system. Perhaps we would have praised it just as highly for its level of customization. I love VI and VII for offering a more customizable experience than IV , but there’s something addicting about V ’s job system that the other games in the main series have yet to replicate for me.

Although you could choose a standard party like in the first game and never deviate, the main draw is to learn enough abilities to create a specialized or well-rounded freelancer (the class with no inherent abilities). For instance, if you master the red mage, you’ll learn Dualcast, and further mastery of magic users can imbue your warriors with extra MP, or even halve the MP usage per spell. That’s just a tiny example of the devastating warriors you can create.

Retro Rewind: Why Final Fantasy V Does It Best

I think what really made the job system so appealing to me is that it made grinding so much more bearable. Granted, as with any RPG, it takes time and dedication to master anything. But think about the moments in which you find yourself lost and constantly bombarded by lower-level enemies. These fights offer spare change worth of experience points and make random battles seem all the more obnoxious. However, that’s not always the case in Final Fantasy V , in which you gain both experience and ability points. Jobs don’t take long to master, so it’s easier to shift focus onto that. At times, I’d look up and be surprised at how many normal levels I had gained absent-mindedly.

Final Fantasy V isn’t the first Final Fantasy to utilize a job system: the original takes that honor, and even then, Final Fantasy III was the first to allow players to change jobs outside of battle. Chances are you might have a similar experience to me in that Final Fantasy Tactics was your first experience with the series’ job system. It’s difficult to gauge which game’s job system made a larger impact on players, but for what it’s worth, Final Fantasy V nails it, and it’s even easier to lose time if you play it on mobile devices where auto battle is an option.

To top